A thermoplastic foil has become known (German Patent Application by Naxos Union, Frankfurt am Main, published on Oct. 16, 1950, page 495-504) and contrary to paper of fabric backings is intended to resist breaking, as the foil has no pores and the binding agent therefore cannot penetrate the foil. These thermoplastic foils have a thermal stability which is much too low for the intended application. Moreover, the usual abrasive medium backings also have poor thermal conductivity. The mechanical stability is seriously impaired by the poor thermal conductivity and therefore this often leads to premature destruction of the abrasive medium backing even before the abrasive coating has been sufficiently utilized. The clamped ends of the abrasive pads or disks or on pad sanders do tear particularly often as they need to be held very tight. There are arranged two expensive clamping means to hold a disk, the ends of which cannot be utilized in grinding. Abrasive disks constitute a permanent risk of accidents due to their liability to break, especially when the frequently interfering guard is removed. Low temperature grinding is often only possible by supplying a cooling emulsion.
A further grinding foil is known (U.S. Pat. No. 2,292,991--FLEXIBLE ABRASIVE PRODUCT) in which flexible metal foils are proposed as grinding medium backings, within the thickness range 0.0005 to 0.015 inches, or 0.025 to 0.375 mm. In line 33 of page 1, soft steel is named as the grinding medium backing material. The metal foils consist of soft metals with a coating of a soft metal serving as a binding means with a low melting point and which is caused to melt by the action of heat and is strewn with the abrasive material, and by means of rolling, part of the abrasive grains is embedded in the metal foil and part into the melt. However, there is no point in this patent document which says anything about attaching the grinding foil to a backing material.
Replacing abrasive disks on rotating disk supports by means of a quick-release attachment is enabled by the burr grip, described as early as 1959 in the monthly magazine "Popular Mechanics", March edition, volume 8, no. 3, page 28, as a means for securing clothing and upholstery: "Securing by means of nylon strips." Attachment of abrasive disks was shown for the first time at the Hanover Industrial Fair in 1987. One side of the grip is bonded to the abrasive disk, the other one to the support disk. When the abrasive is used up the paper is disposed of together with the fixing means making the abrasive paper rather expensive. Spot-accurate jointing is difficult, static electricity can hardly be leaked off and numerous small interspaces in the burr grip are very difficult to clean. Another disadvantage is the pressure required for joining. Sterilisation requires easy cleaning, so that application in food processing is practically out of question.
Abrasive surfacing or linings are used for peeling on vegetable and grain peeling machines. In the factory for manufacturing abrasive medium, an abrasive coating compound consisting of abrasive grains and binding agent is manually applied at a thickness of approx. 5-25 mm to the various peeling elements such as peeling plate, peeling drum and peeling segments, and hardened in an oven. This means that worn peeling elements always must be transported to the factory, which causes considerable costs. The necessity of having two peeling machines of the same design, for instance one for potatoes and one for carrots, is a disadvantage. Potatoes require a more coarse abresive surfacing. Repeated converting of the machine is too expensive.